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Diving Deeper: October 2018 Grantmaking
November 20, 2018
Terri D. Wright, Ph.D., MPH
On October 25, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation’s board of directors approved 77 grants totaling $3,110,000 in general grantmaking, and four capacity-building grants totaling $103,450.
In our last grants announcement, I reiterated our focus on building a grantmaking strategy that supports our partner’s efforts to eliminate racial disparities in housing, education, employment, and asset building throughout the region. I shared our early progress to that end under our revised selection criteria and goals, and this follow up provides an update on this continuing work.
What We’ve Learned by Going Deeper This Round
An adage that we’ve come to reinforce here at Meyer is that, “when you’ve seen one community, you’ve seen one community.” Our program directors Nadine Duplessy Kearns, Julian Haynes, and Sonia Quiñónez have sought to look beyond data and connect directly with individuals in communities by facilitating a series of conversations that serve to further inform our programmatic priorities in the District, Maryland, and Northern Virginia.
While we’ve seen many common threads that run through communities across the region, each has unique characteristics and we believe it is critical to tailor our approaches and strategies to the nuances that exist within each one. We’ve met families whose primary concern revolves around the area’s lack of quality housing that is affordable, and families whose primary concern is sending a child to school out of fear of family separation or deportation. Communities in this region have varied challenges, and solutions to most of them will require addressing the root causes in the systems that create and maintain those challenges.
Today, we are able to count more organizations doing systems change work – work that seeks to address the root causes of inequities, including advocacy to achieve systems change – to our grantmaking portfolio than ever before. To advance the long-term goals of our strategic plan grounded in racial equity and taking what we’ve learned from the communities into careful consideration, each grantee partner was looked at thoroughly and thoughtfully through a racial equity lens. The funding shifts we’ve made toward systems change are in response to the unaddressed needs and inequities in our region, but we continue to recognize the important work of organizations that provide critical direct services – even as we’ve had to make tough decisions about transitioning some from the Meyer portfolio. We are truly pleased to serve as a supportive partner to all of the following organizations. And we are excited about the significant work that many of them are pursuing to advance racial equity in our region now and for future generations.
October Grants Awarded
| Organization | Grant Amount | Project Title | Geographical Area Served |
| Action in Montgomery | $40,000 | to support general operations | Maryland |
| Alliance for Housing Solutions | $12,500 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| Alliance for Justice | $30,000 | to support advocacy training for a cohort of Meyer grantees | National |
| Aspire! Afterschool Learning | $25,000 | to support the capital campaign | Northern Virginia |
| Aspire! Afterschool Learning | $30,000 | to support general operations over two years | Northern Virginia |
| Beacon House Community Ministry | $45,000 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| Black Swan Academy | $20,000 | to support youth civic leadership and engagement programming | District of Columbia |
| Bread for the City | $40,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| BUILD | $45,000 | to support general operations of BUILD Metro DC over two years | Washington Metropolitan Area |
| Building Bridges Across the River | $25,000 | to support community leadership empowerment workshops | District of Columbia |
| Capital Area Asset Building Corporation | $50,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Carpenter’s Shelter | $45,000 | to support general operations over two years | Northern Virginia |
| Carpenter’s Shelter | $50,000 | to support the capital campaign | Northern Virginia |
| CASA | $140,000 | to support general operations over two years | Maryland |
| Centreville Immigration Forum | $35,000 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| Centro De Apoyo Familiar | $40,000 | to support general operations | Maryland |
| Children’s Law Center | $60,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| City First Enterprises | $30,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development | $90,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| College Success Foundation – District of Columbia | $37,500 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| Cornerstones | $50,000 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| Critical Exposure | $25,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| DC Alliance of Youth Advocates | $50,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| DC Center For Independent Living | $30,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| DC Jobs With Justice | $20,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| DC Vote | $40,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Doorways for Women and Families | $40,000 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| First Generation College Bound | $50,000 | to support general operations | Maryland |
| First Shift Justice Project | $20,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| For Love of Children | $30,000 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop | $45,000 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| Generation Hope | $45,000 | to support general operations over two years | Washington Metropolitan Area |
| Greater Washington Community Foundation | $100,000 | to support the Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative over two years | Washington Metropolitan Area |
| Greater Washington Community Foundation | $50,000 | to support Raise DC | District of Columbia |
| Greater Washington Urban League | $40,000 | to support the Greater Washington Urban League Advocacy and Research Institute | District of Columbia |
| IMPACT Silver Spring | $50,000 | to support general operations | Maryland |
| InfrastructureDC | $35,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Jews United for Justice | $25,000 | to support general operations | Maryland |
| Jubilee Housing | $60,000 | to support the Platform of Hope initiative | District of Columbia |
| Jubilee Housing | $60,000 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| Latino Economic Development Corporation | $35,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Laurel Advocacy and Referral Services | $37,500 | to support general operations over two years | Maryland |
| Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia | $50,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Life Pieces to Masterpieces | $60,000 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| LIFT | $25,000 | to support general operations of LIFT-DC | District of Columbia |
| Literacy Council of Northern Virginia | $30,000 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| Many Languages One Voice | $30,000 | to support Movement Matters’ board recruitment, training and placement program and the Organizers’ Institute | District of Columbia |
| Many Languages One Voice | $25,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Martha’s Table | $45,000 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care | $60,000 | to support wraparound services in Prince George’s County over two years | Maryland |
| Mikva Challenge | $15,000 | to support general operations of Mikva Challenge DC | District of Columbia |
| Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families | $37,500 | to support general operations over two years | Maryland |
| Neighborhood Legal Services Program | $30,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| New Virginia Majority Education Fund | $30,000 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| Offender Aid and Restoration of Arlington | $20,000 | to support development of an advocacy action network | Northern Virginia |
| Organizing Neighborhood Equity | $35,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Pathways to Housing DC | $52,500 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| PAVE (Parents Amplifying Voices in Education) | $20,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Per Scholas | $35,000 | to support general operations in the National Capital Region | Maryland |
| Progressive Maryland Education Fund | $40,000 | to support general operations | Maryland |
| ProInspire | $13,450 | to support three convenings focused on Equity in the Center | District of Columbia |
| ProInspire | $30,000 | to support the planning and design of a racial equity cohort program for Meyer grantees | Washington Metropolitan Area |
| Public Allies | $30,000 | to support general operations of Public Allies DC over two years | District of Columbia |
| Restaurant Opportunities Centers United | $20,000 | to support general operations of ROC-DC | District of Columbia |
| Shaw Community Ministry | $20,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Smart Growth America | $20,000 | to support the Greater Greater Washington Education Project’s community engagement in the District | District of Columbia |
| So Others Might Eat | $75,000 | to support the Center for Employment Training over two years | District of Columbia |
| Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs | $10,000 | to support Building Bosses | District of Columbia |
| Social Good Fund | $30,000 | to support the Fair Budget Coalition | District of Columbia |
| StreetWise Partners | $37,500 | to support general operations in Washington, DC over two years | District of Columbia |
| Turnaround for Children | $30,000 | to support the Washington, DC program | District of Columbia |
| Unity Economic Development Corporation | $30,000 | to support general operations over two years | Maryland |
| Urban Alliance | $105,000 | to support general operations in the National Capital Region over two years | Washington Metropolitan Area |
| Urban Ed | $30,000 | to support general operations over two years | District of Columbia |
| Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement of Northern Virginia | $50,000 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| Voices for Virginia’s Children | $30,000 | to support general operations | Northern Virginia |
| Washington Interfaith Network | $40,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
| Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers | $20,000 | to support Montgomery Moving Forward | Maryland |
| Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers | $37,500 | to support Nonprofit Montgomery over two years | Maryland |
| William Wendt Center for Loss and Healing | $52,500 | to support the C.H.I.L.D. program over two years | District of Columbia |
| YWCA of the National Capital Area | $35,000 | to support general operations | District of Columbia |
